For a couple hours, Illini's Prosch focused on football

Saturday

The poweful fullback returned to campus after visting his mother. Iris Prosch is battling brain cancer.

For a couple hours Saturday, Illinois fullback Jay Prosch could concentrate on football.

The 6-foot, 250-pound fullback, who paved the way for record-setting running back Mikel Leshoure last season, even got to run with the ball during the Illini scrimmage Saturday in the indoor practice facility. That was a big deal for a guy who touched the ball once last season on a short pass play and only carried it four or five times in high school.

But there are bigger things in Prosch's life. His mother, Iris, has brain cancer, and Prosch left campus to return home to Mobile, Ala., for eight days earlier this month.

"She's fighting hard, and she's doing good,'' said Prosch, who will be a sophomore this fall. "She's being strong. I just hope for the best. It's in God's hands.''

Iris, 53, is on her feet and moving around, so it was easier for Prosch to listen to his mother when she told him to get back to work and back to school. Iris will undergo further treatment beginning this week, and her file was sent to Duke Cancer Center, a leader in brain cancer treatment. Still, Prosch found it difficult to leave his mother and travel back to campus Wednesday.

"It was really hard at first,'' he said. "One thing I realized, there's nothing I can do about it, so there's no reason to worry about it. It's God's plan. If he wants to keep her here, it's up to him. I'm trusting him.''

Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino liked having Prosch in a depleted backfield Saturday, but there's more to this than football, because it sounds serious.

"Sometimes it helps you to go out and just play football, where you have a couple hours to not worry about it,'' Petrino said. "He's about as great a kid as there is. We want you to say a prayer for him.''

Prosch won't return home until the end of the semester "unless something really bad happens,'' he said, and his teammates are doing what they can.

"He feels good to be back around us and this Illinois family,'' said quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase.

They also missed him on the field, where Prosch is a key piece to the high-powered running game, but this is a kid who's easy to like. Prosch attended UMS-Wright Prep School, a Mobile tradition that produced author Winston Groom, who wrote Forrest Gump; North Carolina State basketball coach Mark Gottfried; and more than its share of judges and politicians.

Prosch will answer with a Yes, sir or No, sir, showing polite manners off the field that contrast his bruising reputation between the lines. He set the Illini weight room record with a 382-pound power clean, and Prosch has somewhere between six and eight percent body fat.

Defensive coordinator Vic Koenning came across Prosch on the recruiting trail. Auburn and Alabama recruited Prosch as a linebacker but weren't serious, then Prosch signed the letter of intent with Illinois at 6:30 a.m. on signing day.

"Alabama talked to me about being a preferred walk-on,'' Prosch said. "I wanted to go there, but I wasn't going to give up on something else to be a walk-on. Auburn strung me along.''

Illinois recruited him as a fullback, even though he had little experience there except for a few goal-line plays. He was an all-stater as an offensive tackle as a junior and started at linebacker as a senior.

"We liked the way he'd come to balance and change direction when he was playing linebacker,'' Petrino said. "We could see him getting around blocks and doing stuff between the tackles. He'd be athletic enough to block, and we knew he was a big, strong, tough kid.

"He was always going to knock a guy out of the hole, so it makes it easy for a running back. He puts a fear of God into those linebackers. It's good to have him back.''

Prosch caught one pass for one yard last season and didn't have a carry. With the Illini running short on running backs because of injury, Prosch logged six carries for 32 yards in the main portion of the scrimmage Saturday.

"I expect him to run people over,'' Scheelhaase said, "but he made a safety miss on the second level. He didn't get a lot of touches last year. I expect to see him get the ball more now.''

There's a great possibility for Prosch to get carries next season, Petrino said, but it depends more on the ability of fullbacks Zach Becker and Chris Willett.

"He can run it,'' Petrino said. "It's if we have another guy good enough to put in front of him to block for him. He's be a real good short yardage guy.''

This is a big deal to Prosch.

"I'd like to do it, for sure,'' Prosch said. "They told me in the spring to be prepared to run the ball. Last year being my first year, I wasn't expected to get the ball. I'm still not expecting to get the ball.''

Planning to major in kinesiology, Prosch won't transfer to a school closer to home, he said, but, assuredly, there were a few tough moments when he left his hometown to head back to Illinois.

"It was hard leaving her,'' Prosch said.

Now he's with his Illini family. The rest of it, he said, is in God's hands.

Illini scrimmage

FEELING BETTER: Illini quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase completed 7-for-12 for 100 yards passing, although the challenge was tougher when he went against the first-string defense.

Said Scheelhaase: "After you walk off the field, you feel good today as far as the passing game. There could be games where running backs go down and you're not able to run as well. You have to come out and throw. We were able to make plays that way.''

DEFENSE: The Illini have some depth in the defensive secondary. Corners Terry Hawthorne and Tavon Wilson started along with safeties Trulon Henry and Pat Nixon. Cornerback Justin Spring, a starter last season, is another player listed as a starter. Hawthorne suffered a sprained ankle late in the session Saturday.

Safety Supo Sanni competed in a live scrimmage for the first time since rupturing his Achilles in August. Safety Steve Hull (ankle) still isn't 100 percent. Walk-on Ben Mathis, of Springfield, is competing at third string and could work his way into special teams play.

"We're trying to see who will step up,'' coordinator Vic Koenning said. "Who is going to shoot 80 on the last day of the Masters or who will shoot 66 and birdie the last four holes?''

RECRUITING: Wide receiver Brandon Clear is looking to transfer from Clemson. He is a graduate who has one year of eligibility remaining, and he would be able to play this fall. Southern Mississippi is also making at run at Clear, whose father, Samuel, played defensive back at Illinois in 1979-80. . . Linebacker Jordan Wallace of Indianapolis North Central was also watching from the sideline.